The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers bounced back from a 2-0 shutout at the hands of the Peoria Chiefs on Saturday night to Dozer Park to shut out the Chiefs 4-0 on Sunday afternoon. Wisconsin broke open the scoreless game late as five Rattlers pitchers held Peoria to three hits.
Both teams had opportunities to score in the second inning.
Daniel Dickinson singled and Tayden Hall walked to start the Rattler half of the inning. They pulled a double steal to get into scoring position. Jacob Odle, the Peoria starting pitcher, stranded both runners by retiring the next three batters on a strikeout, a popup, and a flyout.
Cade McGee doubled to start the bottom of the second for the Chiefs (38-42 overall, 6-8 second half). Josh Knoth, the Rattlers starter, struck out the next three batters to keep the game scoreless.
Wisconsin (45-31, 11-3) broke through on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh. Tyler Rodriguez singled and Luiyin Alastre was hit by a pitch. Yannic Walther dropped a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Luis Peña hit a deep line drive to right. Jesús Suárez made a great leaping catch to take extra bases away from Peña. However, Rodriguez was able to tag and score easily from third on the sacrifice fly.
Hall was at third with two outs in the top of the eighth. Wisconsin hitters were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position to that point of the game. Luis Castillo, who stepped into the box to face Dominic Freeberger, was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and had stranded five runners to that point of the game. Castillo delivered a ringing double to the gap in right-center on a 1-1 pitch to score Hall for an insurance run.
Rodriguez was next. He launched a two-run home run, his first Midwest League homer, to left field and the Rattlers were up 4-0.
That was plenty for the Wisconsin pitchers. Knoth, Jason Woodward, Peyton Niksch, Jose Meneses, and Yerlin Rodriguez combined to hold the Chiefs to three hits. They issued two walks and struck out eleven in the game. Niksch allowed one hit and struck out three over three scoreless innings to earn the win. Menese worked the seventh and eighth perfectly with three strikeouts. Rodriguez issued a lead-off walk in the ninth, but ended the game with a lineup and a 5-4-3 double play.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They return to action on Tuesday with game one of a series against the Beloit Sky Carp at Neuroscience Group Field. The Timber Rattlers are the top team in the West Division second half standings. The Sky Carp are right behind the Rattlers in second place. Tuesday is the first of eighteen second half meetings between the in-state rivals. Game time is 6:40pm.
